Aviation Mental Health

This book provides an authoritative and practical guide to the assessment, management, treatment and care of pilots and other professional groups within aviation, covering a range of relevant topics, for health and human resources practitioners working in the airline industry.Pilots - both commercial and military - are in many ways a unique occupational group. Their training is both intense and vigorous, and the tasks pilots perform demand good physical health and psychological stability. As individuals, they have to be proficient in handling complex systems on board aircraft, as well as have an ability to work as part of a small team or crew and usually within an organisation. As shift workers, they do not usually follow the same routine, and their 'office' is normally a cramped flight deck on board an aircraft at 35,000 feet in the air. Increasing automation on the flight deck over the past decade has altered the role of the modern pilot. He or she must be an efficient and well-organised manager, proficient at communicating with customers and fellow crew and adept at computer programming as much as demonstrating traditional 'stick and rudder' skills. When operating as part of a crew, a pilot's actions are subject to the close monitoring of other crew members, similar to an incessant driving test. Regular simulator and line tests, as well as medical assessments for physical and psychological fitness, a comparatively low retirement age, increased uncertainty in the job market as well disruption to one's domestic life, all add to the stress of the job.Pilot mental health has, hitherto, been regarded as a specialist topic in aviation medicine. Consequently, practitioners and researchers alike have been forced to consult specialist journals or seek out a relevant chapter on this topic in a general textbook to develop or update their understanding of the relevant issues. This new book seeks to remedy this situation by gathering together all of the relevant insights into a single authoritative source gathered from the leading specialists in the field. It aims to cover all of the main relevant issues including the assessment, care, management and treatment of mental health problems, as well as the prevention of mental health problems among this occupational group.